006. Is a Rebrand Right for You?

A rebrand isn’t just changing your logo.

A rebrand can be a whole refresh, pressing restart on your business, but when should you make the leap? Here are some few hints at to when you should start thinking of rebranding.

01. Expanding.

If you notice a lot of growth in your brand you could start growing out of it, just like you would an office space. You have a fine logo but don’t have photography or typographic guidelines. You could start adding on and ‘renovate’ your brand or you could use this time to build you brand back up from scratch.

Evaluate what your brand goals were and what they are now, and how that can be translated through your new brand. This expansion can also come when deciding to create new platforms for yourself. Want to migrate your Etsy or Instagram business to its own custom website? This is a great time to reevaluate your brand and decided whether a rebrand will help you in the long term (hint. It probably will).

02. Coincidental success.

Let’s say that you set up your business model to target a certain group, thinking they would be your primary target audience. But a year into your business you notice that your main consumer is a completely different audience. You’ve hit a nerve with this group.

But why?

If you find that you are ‘accidentally’ successful in areas that you didn’t plan or even attempt (let’s say you blow up in Pinterest, and didn’t even realise), then it’s time to reassess and find out why.

You can use this success to pivot some of your brand practices. Start targeting those who seem most interested in your brand, spend more time investing in platforms you are succeeding on. This can come hand in hand with a visual rebrand as well as internally making changes to your business. How can you visually target this new group and keep them interested? Or how can you optimise the success you are having?

03. Stagnant.

Are you feeling a lull in your business? Not getting the same amount of opens on an email? Not selling as much as you used to? You may need a rebrand.

Remember that a rebrand isn’t just about the visuals, it can also be about assessing everything about your brand. How are you using social media? Why are you using it like that? Is that working? Why or why not?

Reevaluating your brand is a great way to bring a fresh voice to it and really understand in a deep way why things are working and why some things aren't. You can then make meaningful changes to your brand that will reach out again to your audience who may have been bored or unsatisfied by your brand.

And here are some bonus reasons as to why you SHOULDN’T rebrand.

Boredom.

You may feel stagnant but that doesn’t mean your customers are.

If you are just wanting a rebrand because you are feeling bored with your brand try to adjust your attention. Start a new hobby or side project instead. Your customers want to build brand loyalty with you but if you are changing your brand and mission every six months then there isn’t much they can connect to.

Jealousy.

You see a business doing ‘better’ than you on Instagram. Well they must be doing ‘better’ because they have more followers, right? And if they have more followers that means more engagement and more customers, right? And they have more followers and engagement and customers because they have a better brand, RIGHT?

Well, no.

Not at all. We all know that numbers aren’t everything. And we don’t know the ins and outs of anyone's brand but our own. You may be having these thoughts of jealousy and want to put those emotions into a rebrand. Which might be the solution, but it probably won’t be if it’s fuelled by jealousy.

You need to step back and get perspective, then reevaluate your brand in an objective way. Then if you believe a rebrand is the solution to your current brand problems (maybe something to do with my first three points). Then go ahead a reach out to a designer and discuss a rebrand!

Those are all my opinions and thoughts on the cause of rebrands! I assume you came to my article as a small business looking at whether you yourself need a rebrand? If my assumption was correct I would love to reach out and offer all readers a free brand consult! So we can assess whether if you really do need a rebrand or if there are simpler solutions to the brand problems you may have.

Feel free to get in touch via my contact page or directly through email at maisieheatherdesign@gmail.com